Spirit of the apocalypse
by Justsomesquidiot
Summary: A story about a group of teenagers that got caught up in the mess that is a zombie apocalypse. Surviving through the first month was tough, but it's all downhill from here. Will they survive even a year in this harsh world?
1. Introduction and prologue

**I got bored and got some inspiration to write again. New story, not sure if I'll end up finishing this one or not, but for now you get a short prologue.**

**1 MONTH IN**

"Hey, Devyn, come over here and give me a hand with this."

Devyn, a shorter girl with brown hair, gets up and walks over to the voice. "Thought you were strong enough to move a dumpster, Fizz." Fizz scoffs and pushes hard on it. "I told you, I wasn't exactly Hercules before all of this started." Devyn rolls her eyes and pushes the dumpster, blocking an entrance to their camp.

Their camp, which was populated by seven people total, was situated in the middle of a gas station. They both take a breath and step back. "Finally, it took fucking forever to get this place fortified."

Devyn moves back to her spot in the ground. "From walkers, maybe. I still can't believe we ended up so close to your house, considering how far we were away from it." Fizz shrugs and sits with her. "Yeah, well, your house wasn't a good idea. You saw how torn apart your neighborhood was."

The door to the gas station opens, and out walks Karl. "Finally got that dumpster moved I see. Took you long enough." Fizz stands up and glares at him. "Yeah? I didn't see you trying to help." Karl, a chubby guy with a tall stature, has role of food management. "I was rationing the food, dick. We only have a month's worth, maybe less. We'll need to scavenge."

Fizz adjusts his glasses and sighs. The tallest of the group, Fizz had suggested their location in the first place, and as such ended up being the one who had to figure out to keep the walkers out. "We can search my old mobile home park. Bound to be some good stuff there."

Devyn stands up as well. "Yeah, and it'll be dangerous as shit. I'll remind you both, we don't have any guns. Just knives." Devyn was supposed to keep the weapons sharp and watch over them, for what little weapons they had. Fizz shrugs. "Well, we can't just starve, and we aren't going to find guns just lying around. We have to take that chance." Fizz walks back inside.

Two girls walk out of the gas station next. Both short, and both looking annoyed. Karl swears to himself and turns to them. "Ashley, Katlyn, what's up?" They both look at each other and glare at him. "There's no God damn privacy here!" Ashley says. "Were are we supposed to do our business?!" Katlyn says, throwing her arms up in annoyance.

Devyn rolls her eyes. "I think there's more important things to be thinking of then you're sex life right now." Karl nods. "You guys can't just be on the sidelines keeping everyone up at night with your moaning. Not only is it irritating, but we all need the rest."

A loud bang behind them all startles them. A walker is beating on the dumpster that was just moved into place. Karl groans. "Fuck... FIZZ! WALKER ON THE WALL!" He calls, causing the walker to get even more riled up. Fizz comes outside and looks at the walker in disgust. "You never think about how disgusting they look until they're right in front you..." He takes a knife out and stabs the walker in the head. It collapses to the ground, lifeless.

"What the hell is with all the noise?" A groggy voice grumbles as its owner steps outside. A tired looking girl, short, with glasses. She stumbles outside and glares at everyone outside. "Can you please keep it down? I can barely get sleep as it is..." Fizz cleans his knife off and puts it away. "Sorry Natalie. Walker." She grumbles and nods. "Wake me up if you need me..." She puts her headphones back on and goes back inside.

Fizz shakes his head. "She's messed up, guys. After seeing... All of that, she's having constant nightmares." Devyn and Karl look back into the has station with sympathy. "We're lucky we found her when we did. Trapped in that truck, she wouldn't have lasted much longer." Fizz nods and heads back inside, bumping into the last member of the group as he walks inside.

Said member walks outside and stares at the wall. "Not bad. We could actually make a go of it here." He walks over to the group of four. "What's going on here?" Karl gestures to the lovers. "These two are complaining that there's no privacy here." Ashley grumbles. "We just some time to enjoy ourselves. Come on Alex, can't you understand?"

Alex crosses his arms. "You guys can't be thinking of yourselves before the rest of us. We're all in this together. We're the teenager squad, you know?" Ashley and Katlyn both grumble and flip off the three of them as they walk back inside. Alex sighs and turns to the other two. "You guys doing okay? It's been a shitty week. You guys lost two of your friends, I lost my friend..." He trails off, putting a hand to his to try and block out the bad memories.

Devyn and Karl look at each other. "Yeah, we've all been through a lot this past month. But... We're all still alive. We can survive." Karl nods and pumps his fist. "Hell yeah! Fuck the apocalypse, we got this shit." Alex smiles and looks out at the electric facility across the street. "So how long do you think the power will last?" Karl shrugs. "Honestly I'm surprised it hasn't already. We're lucky."

Fizz walks back outside. "Group meeting without me? I'm shocked." He walks up to the three of them. "So, Mr. Leader, what now?" Alex crosses his arms and looks out into the distance. "Simple. We survive. We're safe here, we've got food, water, we can make this work."

The other three nodded. "We deserve a break like this after all that shit from the first few weeks. C'mon guys, let's get some rest." Fizz gestures for them to head inside. The four of them walk inside, finding Ashley and Katlyn cuddled up in one of the corners, and Natalie sleeping behind the checkout counter. They all move to the different parts of the store, getting as comfortable as possible on the cold tile floor.

And that's when the lights went out.


	2. Chaos Overture

**4 DAYS IN**

"Fuck! Fuck! This is so fucked!" Devyn voice cracks as she yells to herself, barely making a turn past a crashed car. Fizz, sitting in the passenger seat, holds onto the seat for dear life. "Devyn, you're gonna kill us faster with this reckless driving!"

Karl voices his agreement in the backseat, while Anthony, Devyn's boyfriend, shakes his head. "We need to keep moving! The sooner we get out of town, the better!" Fizz turns to him. "Yeah, we all saw the same shit, but how does driving like a fucking maniac help anyone?!"

Devyn screams as they hit someone in the road, causing the car to screech and slide left, causing them to crash into a building. Everyone groans and gets up. Everyone except Anthony.

"Anthony?" Karl mumbles, dizzy. He taps Anthony's shoulder. Anthony falls down across the seat, his neck horribly broken. Everyone in the car shrieks, terrified, and Fizz pushes open the door to get out and collapse to the ground.

Devyn gets out next. "No! Fucking no!" She screams, throwing open Anthony's door and pulling him out. Karl is frozen in place, shocked to the core. Fizz wheezes. "The seatbelt... There's no seatbelt on that side..."

Devyn cries out in anguish and starts sobbing over Anthony's corpse, as Karl finally comes to his senses and gets out of the car. Fizz stands up, groaning at a pain in his leg. "Fuck, okay, fuck, we need to move. That was very fucking loud and we won't be alone for much longer."

Devyn shakes and nods between her sobs. "Yeah, just... One second..." Karl comes over to Fizz. "Dude, your leg doesn't look good." Fizz grunts as he takes weight off of it. "It's just a little out of place. I'll fix it later. Hopefully..." He mumbles the last part under his breath.

They all get startled by a moan from Anthony. Devyn stares at him in surprise. "A-Anthony...?" He responds by jumping onto Devyn, to which she screams and holds him back. Fizz, startled, limps quickly over to her. "What the fuck?! What happened?!"

Devin tries to shove Anthony off but fails. "I-I don't know! He... Turned!" Fizz tenses up and looks around for a weapon. He starts panicking upon seeing nothing, and sighs. "Move him off of you!" Devyn, unable to do anything else, shoves Anthony to the side.

Fizz picks up his bad leg, and with a yell, slams it into Anthony's face. He yells in pain after the impact and pants. "...Fixed my leg, heh..." Devyn slaps him, causing him to fall to the ground. "Ow! What the fuck, Devin?!" Devin, still crying, glares at him. "This is no time for jokes! My boyfriend is DEAD, jackass!" Karl comes over and helps Fizz up. "We need to go. Now." They hear groaning coming from behind them. Fizz and Devyn both nod and they start running down the street.

**1 MONTH AND FOUR DAYS IN**

"So what was it like for you?"

Devyn snaps out of her trance and looks at Natalie. "Sorry, what?" Natalie shrugs. "Before the apocalypse, I mean. What was your life like. You seem pretty young." Devyn pushes herself off of the wall and sits next to her. "Well... Yeah. I was in college, studying forensic science... I was hoping to be a crime scene investigator, you know? I was doing so damn well too..." She shivers. "Not sure I picked the right career after seeing everything out here... How about you?"

Natalie stares at her before yawning and nodding. "I was going into my senior year of high school. Fucking hated the place already, I expected to fail and be stuck with a dead end job for the rest of my life. Instead I got stuck with dead people walking around, and somehow I survived." She shakes her head and rubs her headphones. "I saw the instruments inside. Anybody play?"

Devyn nods. "Fizz and Karl. They would always talk about it when we hung out, I had no idea what they were talking about." Natalie looks back at the doors, then back out to the pitch black night outside. "So what was your nightmare about?" Devyn jumps at the question. "What? I didn't-" Natalie cuts her off with a raised hand. "Yes, you did. You wouldn't be out here otherwise."

Devyn sighs and rubs the back of her neck. "My boyfriend... He died in the first few days. I crashed the car we were in and... Yeah." Natalie looks sympathetic, and throws some more twigs in the fire near them. "He didn't... Turn, did he?" Devyn puts her head in her hands and turns to the fire. "He did... Fizz had to stomp his head in to keep him from biting me."

"Holy shit... I should get him to tell me how to get that kind of force..." Devyn chuckles. "I suppose it was a good thing though. Taught us you turn no matter how you die. Bite just kills you through some infection or some bullshit like that." Natalie scoots closer to her. "You say that as if you already knew about the bite before. Bite victim?"

"My friend Michael. Came over to my house with a bite, said someone in his neighborhood was going nuts, and bit him. He turned by the end of the night, so we ran. Didn't know what to do, other then drive into town to see what was going on. Big fucking mistake..."

Natalie shrugs. "If you hadn't gone into the city, I would've died. So even if it was a bad idea, I'm glad you went anyway." Devyn smiles and nods. "We did do that, didn't we..." Natalie taps the ground for a moment before standing up. "So, what about your other friends?" Devyn stands up with her and leans against the wall. "Me and Karl have been friends for a few months. He comes over as often as he can, but he was always busy with band."

Natalie rolls her eyes. "Had a boyfriend like that once... Wouldn't ever spend time with me because he was too busy with drama club. I found out later he was cheating on me. Fucking hope he died in all this..." Devyn laughs and pats her shoulder. "Hey, we ever find him as a walker, I'll let you do the honors."

Natalie smirks and rubs her eyes. "And Fizz?"

Devyn hums. "We're friends. He went over to my house a few times, but I don't think it would've ever been just the two of us. I owe him my life though." Natalie yawns again and shakes her head. "I'm gonna head back inside... Get some rest, Hopefully. Don't stay out here too long." She gets up and heads back inside, leaving Devyn alone by the wall.

The next morning, everyone gathers near the wall to discuss the day's plans.

Alex nods and crosses his arms. "Alright everyone, we've officially lost all the freezer food. With the power gone it was only a matter of time. Since our food supply is now halved, we need to go scavenge nearby areas for food. We can start with the dollar store across the street." He points to the mentioned building. "Fizz and Karl can handle that. The rest of you will help me throw away all this spoiled food before it starts stinking up the place."

Everyone shrugs or nods and Karl and Fizz head over to the wall. "Stuck on scavenge duty with me, I can't wait for everything to go wrong." Karl sighs. "Dude, shut up. It's bad enough having to go out as it is." Fizz pushes a part of the wall aside so they can get out. "Woah, I'm just trying to lighten the mood here. It's too damn grim for my liking."

"People are out there eating each other, Fizz. I think I have an idea as to why the mood is grim." Fizz pushes the wall back into place. "Whatever man. Things have to stay light in times like these, otherwise we all end up killing ourselves." Karl waves him off and they both walk across the street.

Fizz forces the door to the store open and they both walk inside. "I don't think anyone's here, so let's just grab what we can and get out." They spilt, heading down the aisles to look for any supplies they can. Luckily for them, no one had been through the place yet.

"This place is a goldmine! Food and drinks for weeks!" Karl yells from one side of the shop. "Not only that, there's a lot here we can use as tools and weapons!" Fizz shouts back, grabbing a garden rake. "This'll keep us going for a while!" A groaning from beside him causes him to jump and drop the rake, grabbing his knife and turning to the noise.

A walker pushes its way out of the back room nearby and starts shambling at him. He runs at it, throwing his leg against the walker's leg to trip it. He stabs it in the head once it's down. "Fucking hell..." Karl runs over. "Oh, good, you're alive." Fizz pulls the knife out of its skull and cleans it off. "You sounds disappointed."

"Disappointed? Why would I be disappointed?" Fizz shrugs and puts the knife away. "I wouldn't know." Karl gives Fizz a confused look before shaking his head and walking back to the aisle he was looting before. Fizz picks the rake back up, as well as several other garden tools before nodding. "We'll have to make a few trips. I'm taking the tools back, I'll be back shortly!"

Karl shouts a confirmation back at him, and Fizz leaves the building.

Upon leaving the building and heading into the street, he looks both ways and notices something strange coming to them from the highway exit nearby. He squints his eyes and pushes his glasses closer to try and get a better look. He sees a group of walkers, heading towards him. "What the hell? That's like... Fifteen, easy..." He moves into the street to try and get a better look. "Wait... Oh, fuck. That's... That's gotta be almost a hundred of them!" He runs back to the gas station and pushes the wall in. "Alex! Get out here!"

Alex comes outside. "What? What happened?" Fizz turns back to the street. "There's a... Hoard, of them out there! Almost a hundred, minimum!" Alex's face flushes and he freezes in shock, as the others who have come outside to listen, gasp in horror. Karl comes running through the wall with two armfuls of food. "Fizz! You saw them, right?"

Fizz nods. "We all need to stay SILENT. They will pass us if we let them." Everyone nods and Fizz pulls the wall back into place. "Everyone, inside!" They all scramble through the doors and shut them, making sure to stay absolutely silent.

It takes a while, but the loud groaning of the horde becomes all they can hear soon enough. They all are pressed up against the walls, trying not to panic or freak out as they pass. After an hour of sitting in fear and silence, the groaning stops. They all take a breath.

Ashley stands up. "What the fuck was that?! Why were there so many?!" Fizz gets some water and drinks it. "They must've been attracted together by noise and kept travelling together afterwards..." She scoffs. "Well, whatever, all that matters is that it's gone now."

The window behind the counter breaks as a walker puts it's hand through it. Everyone turns to the window, where a large group of walkers are pressed up against it, pushing on it. The rest of the glass starts cracking. "That's not gonna hold!" Alex yells.

Fizz nods and runs over to their supplies, grabbing as much as he can and putting it into bags. Natalie and Devyn both run over to him and help. Karl runs over to the window and starts wacking hands with the trowel they brought back. Ashley and Katlyn both grab their backpacks and start packing stuff into them.

"Katlyn, help Karl! Keep them off of us for as long as you can!" Alex shouts, running over to deliver more bags to the rest. Katlyn nods and runs over, grabbing the hoe and slicing the hands off. Fizz stands up after a minute, his arms full. "We need to leave before they get through the wall, too!" Alex nods and turns to the two at the window. "C'mon you two! We gotta-" He's cut off as more of the glass shatters, and Karl and Katlyn are both caught off guard by walker hands. They both get pulled against the window, which is cracking even faster now.

"Shit!" Alex swears, running over to the window. He runs to Karl first, kicking the walker hand holding him off, causing him to stumble forwards. Ashley drops her supplies and runs over to Katlyn just as the glass breaks. She manages to grab Katlyn just before she gets pulled out, but is now stuck in a struggle with the walkers. "Alex, help me!"

Alex runs over and tries to help Ashley pull Katlyn back in. "They're getting through!" Karl yells, slamming the trowel into the head of one of the walkers. Katlyn is sobbing at this point. "Don't let them take me! Please! Please!" Ashley pulls harder. "Don't worry, baby! We've got you!"

Fizz stabs the walker directly behind Katlyn, causing them to pull her forward, and Fizz runs back to the supplies, helping Natalie and Devyn grab as much as they can. Karl kicks open the door. "let's move!" They quickly get out of the building and move the wall, sprinting down the street away from the hoard behind them.

Katlyn runs beside Fizz, and turns to him. "Thank you... So much." Fizz just nods, and they continue running, away from the place they thought was safe.


	3. Traveling and changing

**So I had been spelling Devyn's name wrong this whole time, oops. Also, try not to expect super frequent updates. Writing tends to take a lot out of me these days.**

**ONE MONTH AND 6 DAYS IN**

A light conversation is passed between the seven survivors as they travel down the freeway, littered with wrecked and stopped cars and even some bodies.

"So this motherfucker has the audacity to lie to my face about it! I told him he was full of shit, and what do you know, they were dating the next day." Karl finishes, throwing his hands up with an exasperated look on his face. Fizz shrugs. "Hey, I made my mistake. But she totally fucked me over too, so we both lost anyway." Karl shakes his head and points at him. "You, are a bitch boy." Fizz chuckles. "Yeah, and you're stupid."

Devyn shoves Fizz lightly. "Get a room you two!" The rest of them laugh and Fizz rolls his eyes. "Whatever Devyn." Alex grumbles. "Can you guys be quiet? We're almost at the exit." Karl bumps his shoulder with his own. "C'mon, lighten up Alex. This is the first time we've all laughed since we got to the gas station!"

"Yeah, and it's loud. Maybe you've forgotten that we're in the middle of the apocalypse?" Fizz gestures around. "We're in the middle of a highway, nothing is gonna catch us off guard here." Alex turns back and glares at him. "Yeah, and how about when we hit that exit? What then?" Fizz goes silent and Devyn glares back him. "What's got up your ass? We're just trying to have fun here."

"I'm trying to be cautious. Someone could shoot us from the treeline or something!" Natalie scoffs. "Please. There's no one out here, everyone either died or went south." Fizz shrugs. "You never know. There always seems to be someone." She shoves him lightly. "Well don't jynx us then!" He rolls his eyes and shoves her back.

After another hour of walking, they arrive at the exit, walking up it to find a strip of restaurants and a hotel. Ashley and Katlyn look at the hotel in wonder, as if they've both never seen one before. "Can... Can we go there? There must be so much room..." Fizz looks up at it. "Defendable... Hell, seems like a good idea to me." Alex nods. "Let's get over there quickly, sooner we get the place secured the better." They all start walking towards the hotel.

"Comfy beds... So much room... This could be great for us." Karl says with a smile. "Sure, as long as we can still get food from around here... If the restaurants have been tapped, we might have to move." Devyn says, leaning to peek through the window of a restaurant they're passing. "Honestly, I'm just hoping to have a decent bed for a few days..." Natalie mumbles, giving out a small yawn.

After some more walking, they walk up to the front door, and force it open. Fizz pulls out his knife and yells out into the empty lobby, testing for walkers. When none show up, he puts the knife away. "I don't like this. No walkers? What hotel would be empty in the middle of June?" Karl walks over to the front desk. "Not sure... It was definitely open when it happened though, there's a bunch of people signing out that day."

"Maybe everyone left in a hurry?" Devyn proposes, peeking down the hallways. "Not likely... Everything wouldn't be so orderly in here." Alex says, carefully stepping around. The other three girls bring up the rear, Natalie stopping to shut the front door. "Luckily for us, there's two doors at this main entrance. It should be easy to just board this up and use one of the side doors instead."

"We should check the place out. We'll save individual room checks until after we know every floor and every hallway is clear. Without power, we'll need to take the stairs." Alex says, turning to everyone and crossing his arms. "Me and Natalie can take the second floor." Fizz offers, waving Natalie over. "I call going with Devyn to the third floor!" Karl says, sliding over to Devyn, who rolls her eyes and heads to the stairs. Alex nods. "Alright, I'll stay down here with the lovers and start barricading the place."

Natalie and Fizz arrive at the second floor and push the stairway door open. "Still having nightmares?" Fizz whispers to her, pulling out his knife as he moves inside. "Unfortunately, yeah... It's just... It was so horrible out there, you know?" She whispers back, watching behind them just in case. "I hear you. I'm kinda concerned that I'm not having nightmares to be honest..." He peeks down another hallway, nodding for them to move. "You're tougher then you look..." Natalie mumbles, noticing an open door at the end of the hallway and pointing it out to Fizz. "Or I've just been through a lot more..." Fizz mumbles back, heading to the door.

He knocks on the wall just outside the room, after which he hears groaning. He and Natalie back up, and a few walkers come out of the room. Fizz stabs them both in the head. "That's it for this floor... Help me toss these guys out of the window." He opens the window at the end of the hallway and starts dragging one of the walkers to it. Natalie grabs the other body and starts pulling. "You know, I don't actually know a ton about you, Fizz." He shrugs. "There's not a ton to know."

"I find that hard to believe. Especially considering how well you seem to have adapted to all of this." He tosses his walker out the window, wincing at the squishy noise it makes when it hits the ground. "I'm used to being on my own. I didn't have many friends before all of this. Mostly just the two down there." She heaves her walker out the window as well, shutting the window so they don't have to hear the sound. "So there's nothing interesting about you?"

He shrugs. "Not really. School was whatever, I only really cared about band. I was planning to be a musician, I had just gotten accepted to college, and boom, apocalypse." Natalie nods. "So you're... What, eighteen?" Fizz shakes his head and shuts the open room door. "Seventeen, actually. You're eighteen though, right?" She nods and they start walking back. "I actually would like to know more about you. You seem interesting." Natalie says, nudging him. He smiles a bit and shrugs. "Sure, we can talk in the lobby."

Meanwhile, on the third floor, Karl and Devyn are opening rooms to look inside. "So, how you holding up?" Devyn just shakes her head. "Why does it matter? We're in it for the long haul now." Karl frowns and opens another door, only to get attacked by a walker. Devyn reacts quickly and kicks it off of him, and Karl finishes it off by slamming the door into its head a few times. Devyn turns Karl to her and looks him over. "All good? No bites?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Holy shit, that was way too close..." They continue down the hallway, until they find a hallway packed with walkers. They freeze and stare the walkers for a moment, before backing out of their sight. "Holy fuck. That's a lot of them." Devyn breathes out. Karl peeks around the corner. "How the hell did they all get there? Shouldn't some of them have come to us when we killed that other one?" Karl questions to himself, before moving back next to Devyn. "We can't handle this with just us, let's head back downstairs and tell the others."

Devyn nods and they head back to the staircase, quickly heading down to the lobby, where everyone else is sitting. "There's an entire hallway filled with walkers on the third floor!" Everyone turns to Karl, staring at him blankly at his outburst. Fizz groans. "Are you fucking serious? Damn it, Whatever, we still have the second floor for rooms." Alex stutters for a second before getting up. "Are you kidding? We need to take care of that!"

Fizz stares at him blankly. "We have one knife, a trowel, and a shovel. Good luck killing a group of those things with those." Alex deflates and sits back down. "So, what, we just stay here with a bunch of walkers above us?" Natalie nods. "They aren't smart enough to open doors, and the staircase door is pretty strong." Fizz nods. "Exactly. We'll be fine as long as no one opens the door up there."

Ashley gets up. "Look, can we just go set up in the rooms? I'm so damn tired from all the walking." Fizz gets up. "Here, I'll let you pick one, but I'm coming with you just in case there's walkers in the rooms." Ashley doesn't acknowledge him at all and goes to the staircase. They head up to the second floor and he stops her. "Hey, you alright? You haven't looked the greatest since we left the gas station."

She shoves his arm off. "Yeah, just fine." He scoffs and moves to her front. "Yeah, right. You're clearly traumatized." She looks up at him. "My girlfriend almost DIED asshole! Of course I'm fucking messed up!" He backs up a bit and raises his hands. "Alright, I get it, calm down." She punches him in the chest. "Calm down?! She's all I have left! If she had died there, I... I..." She deflates and collapses into Fizz's arms, who's caught off guard.

"Oh, uh... Shit, alright." He opens the nearest room and heads inside, setting Ashley on the bed. He checks the room for walkers and nods when it's clear. "She's gonna need a lot of care..." Katlyn shoves him aside and heads into the room. "Katlyn? You alright?" She nods and gets on top of Ashley, hugging her tightly. He bites his lip and leaves the room, heading back down to the lobby.

"Those two are... Settled, the rest of us should do the same." Everyone remaining in the lobby gets up and heads upstairs. Fizz walks to the front counter and looks at the door. "Please let this work..." He mutters to himself before also heading upstairs.


	4. Rest and Recovery

FOUR DAYS IN

Natalie was extra glad she snuck out today.

She runs down the street, away from the man he saw rip the throat out of another woman. She was horrified, the man didn't even look human anymore, just dead. So she ran away from it, and the image it planted firmly in her head. When she had to stop for breath, she took a look around. Buildings on fire, people screaming as far as she could hear, and the sounds of car crashes could be hear every so often.

A gunshot rings out behind her and startles her into running again. She has nothing on her mind except for the overwhelming need to get out of the city, she knew it would be trouble. She turns a corner, and finds someone leaning against the wall, bleeding all over himself. "Please... Help me..." She backs away in horror, tripping over the curb. When she looks back up, one of the monsters comes up behind the man and tackles him to the ground before ripping open his back and tearing out his guts.

She screams and scrambles to get up and run away again. She's nearly grabbed by a monster, but manages to throw it away and keep running, despite how much her legs ache and how tired she is. "No more..

Please no more..." She whimpers as she runs down the street.

Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Fizz is beating a walker's head in with a piece of a gutter. "Just, fucking, DIE!" He slams the piece into its head and pants. Devin and Karl look on in disbelief. "Are you... Okay...?" Devin asks hesitantly, moving towards Fizz a bit. "Oh, yeah, I'm just fucking great! Haha! Things are fucking fantastic right now!" He yells sarcastically, gesturing around wildly.

Karl looks around, starting to get annoyed that they chose to keep their instruments with them. "Dude, keep your voice down!" Fizz stares a him, furious, before starting to scream various obscenities at him. Devin and Karl both step back in surprise, and Fizz eventually burns himself out and groans. "Let's just keep moving... We need to get the hell out of the city." They start running down the street, passing several people in the process of being eaten.

"This is fucking insane! What the actual fuck is happening?!" Karl yells as they run down the street. "The apocalypse, that's what's happening..." Fizz mutters in response. "Which way is out?" Devin runs up next to Fizz. "Fuck, uh, left!" They all turn left and run faster, the sounds of groaning starting to overpower the screams.

Natalie runs down her own street, her exhaustion starting catching up with as she begins panting heavily. "No... No... I need to keep going..." She wheezes, before collapsing to the ground in the middle of the street. She struggles to catch her breath, and a groan from a nearby alley causes her to freeze.

A monster, rotting beyond belief with one of it's eyes hanging out of it's sockets stumbles out of the alleyway, reaching it's arms out and growling at her. She screams and forces herself to a sitting position. She starts scooting along the ground, backing up into a truck nearby. She hits it, and looks up at it, only taking a second before getting up and throwing the door open. The monster is right behind her, but doesn't manage to catch up before she climbs up and shuts the door.

She curls up into a ball in the middle of the backseat, whimpering to herself.

The other three stop to rest near an intersection nearby, when they get startled by some walkers and are forced to move again. "Why are these things everywhere?! Can they fucking teleport?!" Fizz yells angrily, struggling to keep pace. "Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised!" Karl yells back, almost completely worn out. "Truck!" Devyn screams, pointing ahead to the truck that several walkers have now started banging on.

"Maybe it's owner is alive! We can get a ride out of here!" Fizz charges at the walkers, knocking two of them aside and kicking the third to the ground. "Get on the other side and get in!" He screams. The other two don't bother debating the choice, and the three of them pile into the truck, shutting the doors.

"Uh, Fizz?" Karl mumbles, scooting against Devin in the backseat. He looks back, and sees a girl curled up in a ball. "Oh, hello? Are you alright? ...You're not bitten, right?" She uncurls and sits up, her face soaked with tears. "Who... Who are you people?" The walkers hit the truck particularly hard, and the keys fall out of the mirror on the driver's side. "Haha! It's our lucky day!" Fizz grabs the keys and starts the car, immediately racing it down the street, and towards the edge of town.

ONE MONTH AND TWENTY FOUR DAYS IN

Natalie shoots up in her bed, a cold sweat running down her body. "Fuck... Fuck, I'm okay, I'm fine... I'm not there anymore..." She flops back and sighs, looking out her window, which shows the hotel courtyard. "Safe..." She whispers to herself. She jumps as a noise from outside her room startles her. Someone can be heard grumbling outside, and she goes to her door to look out the peephole.

She can see Fizz rubbing his eyes and moving down the hallway, holding the wall. She frowns and opens the door. "Fizz? What are you doing up?" He looks at her with tired eyes and sighs. "I had a nightmare. Everything finally caught up with me I suppose. Same story?" She nods. "Where are you going?" He looks down the hall. "I dunno... The lobby? I didn't feel like staying in bed."

She steps out into the hallway and shuts her door. "I'll come with you then... Better to talk about these things, as they always say. Or, said, I guess." He nods and gestures for her to come along. They walk down the stairs, into the lobby, and they sit down on a couch.

"Those first days really messed with you, huh?" Natalie nods and looks out the window. "You never forget the sound of someone getting their throat ripped out... It's horrifying." He nods and rubs his eyes again. "We saw someone get torn apart in the middle of the street. They were just... Tearing him open, and apart, and he was howling in pain, it was scarring." He shivers. Natalie pats his shoulder. "We're safe now, at least... Maybe not for long, but still."

He sighs and looks out the window. "We've cleaned out everything from the buildings nearby. If we want to stay, we'll have to go out farther." She looks over at the food supplies, sitting at the reception desk. "How much do we have left?" He shrugs. "I keep a count, but I don't ration. Ask Karl." He turns to her again. "Are you doing alright? You look more tired every day, and-" She cuts him off by shaking her head and holding her hand up. "I'm fine. I can handle nightmares, I'll just get some extra sleep during the day."

"You sure? I don't want you passing out on us." She nods. "I'm sure. You guys can always leave me behind if I pass out though, I give you permission." Fizz looks mortified. "We're not leaving you behind, are you kidding me?!" She laughs and hits the couch. "It was a joke! Sorry, sorry, that's probably in poor taste these days." He puts a hand on his forehead and sighs. "Damn, I thought you were going suicidal on us for a second..." She looks at him with a glare.

"I would never, NEVER, commit suicide, alright? I don't care how bad things get, I would never do that." He's surprised on her resolve, and immediately a few questions pop into his head, which he decides to leave there for the moment. "Alright, good. I'm glad." She shakes her head and gets up. "Come on, we should head back to bed. Everyone won't like us sneaking around."

Fizz nods and stands up as well. "Yeah... Look, I'm happy you don't want to kill yourself. I want to make sure you're okay still." She turns to him and smiles at him. "And I appreciate it. But I'm fine, trust me." He gives her a thumbs up and an awkward smile before turning and going towards the staircase. She rolls her eyes and follows him, heading back to her room.

The next morning, everyone gathers in the lobby. "How much food have we got, Karl?" Alex asks, walking over to the desk. "About three week's worth. Since we raided everything nearby, this is all we've got unless we go down the highway and find something." Alex hums and starts looking through the food bags as everyone on the couches look at each other.

Fizz is the first one to speak. "So how was everyone's night? I'm sure it was just peachy." Devyn nods. "Absolutely, the nonstop faint groaning of the walkers upstairs really makes for a great lullaby." Natalie chuckles. "Can't we kill them already?" Fizz shrugs. "Absolutely, if you want to go up there and deal with a dozen or so walkers, be my guest."

She shakes her head. "No thanks. Everything may be complete shit right now but I'd rather not be dead at the moment." Devyn nudges her. "Ya sure? Hell can't be any worse than this!" She laughs and pushes her away. "Please, as far as I'm concerned, we're doing just fine."

"As well as we can be anyway." Fizz nods. "I'm sure there are people out there who are doing much worse than us." Natalie nods. "Surprising, considering we're a bunch of teenagers."

Devyn looks over at Ashley and Katlyn. "What about them...?" The two are currently hugging In a corner, staring at nothing in particular. "I think the reality of all this finally hit them. Near death experiences will do that." Fizz mumbles. Natalie nods. "They might be a problem later on... If they don't improve."

"Maybe we should keep an eye on them, just in case. We don't want them doing anything drastic." Devyn says. "They should be alright as long as we're somewhere safe. They can recover over time." Karl and Alex come back over. It seems like we'll have to go down the highway to find food if we want to stay here."

"Fine. I'll take somebody with me down to the nearest exit." Fizz stands up. Natalie stands up as well. "I'll go. I need to get out of this stuffy hotel for once." Karl shrugs. "If it stops me from having to try and hold conversation with this guy I'll gladly take a break for today."

Fizz flips him off as he goes over to the pile of gardening tools they use as weapons. "Pick your favorite and let's get moving Natalie." She nods, grabs a weapon, and they head out to start their trip down the highway.


	5. Adventures in Looting

Natalie and Fizz walk down the deserted highway, keeping their guards up in case of any attacks.

"So... Why do they call you Fizz? That's obviously not your real name, but it's what Karl and Devyn call you." Fizz hums and looks back at her. "They call me that because I was so tired of having my real name shouted at me all the time. Think of it as a replacement name, of sorts."

She nods and they continue walking in silence for a while. "...So what's your real name?" She asks, taking note of his less than positive reaction. "Let's just... Ignore that for now, okay?"

"Why? Do you like, hate your own name?" She moves next to him. "What's could be wrong with your name anyway?" Fizz shakes his head. "Look, I got tired of having my name shouted at me every time I did something a little bit wrong. My friends call me Fizz so I don't have to worry about that stuff."

She isn't sure what to say after that, so they both just continue walking in silence. They eventually take an exit into an area with a lot of shops. "Well, this could be good... Probably a lot of walkers around though." Natalie says, walking down the road. Fizz nods and takes out his trowel. "Maybe we can lure them out." Natalie scoffs. "Are you serious? I'm not about to pull what's most likely an entire town on top of us!"

"No, no, we just make a little bit of noise here and draw a couple out. Should make things a little safer, as long as we stay quiet." He picks up a rock and bangs it against his trowel, making a muted clang. Natalie pulls the hoe she took off of her back and readies it. Sure enough, a couple of walkers come out into the street, growling at them.

"Here's where things get dicey." Fizz backs up to stand next to Natalie. "If you get bitten, I'll never forgive you." Natalie chuckles. "If you get bit, I'll take care of you myself." Fizz shakes his head with a smile as the walkers get closer. "Alright, take the taller one." Natalie nods and swings her hoe, taking the walker down.

She bashes the walker's head in as Fizz knocks another one to the ground and stabs it's head with the trowel. They continue taking each one out until a fried of bodies lay around them. "No bites?" Fizz asks, still catching his breath. Natalie shakes her head. "Never." Fizz gives her a thumbs up and they head into one of the stores.

"Looks like a hardware store... Maybe we can grab some more effective weapons." A walker suddenly lunges at them, causing him to yell out and throw the trowel at it, right into it's head. He grabs his chest and exhales loudly. "Holy fuck... Scared the shit outta me..." Natalie, startled by the whole event, nods. "We really need to be more careful..."

He tatkes a moment to catch his breath before continuing to search. "Grab anything that looks useful." Natalie nods and begins to move through the store. "I'm not sure how long we can stay in the hotel. I mean, we've got walkers above us, and we keep having to go further and further for food."

Fizz takes a hammer off of a shelf. "It's not like anyone wants to move. Especially with Ashley and Katlyn in the state they are." Natalie nods. "So... What do we do when we have to go?" He shrugs and grabs a bag to put supplies in. "No idea. I guess we'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

"But what if-" She's interrupted by the sound of gunfire outside. Fizz immediately heads to the window of the store to see what's happening, with Natalie crouching down next to him. "What's happening?"

"Looks like a group that got caught off guard... Let's wait them out." Natalie nods, and Fizz watches as the group kills many of the walkers in town before running away. "They probably looted that side... We're lucky they got startled, or they might've found us."

"Would that have been such a bad thing?" Fizz shrugs and sits with her. "Depends. We have no idea if they're like our group, or if they're... Well, like basically every bad group in an apocalypse story." She nods. "I guess... Maybe we should go see if they left anything behind. Guns would be really helpful."

Fizz nods and gives her the bag of supplies. "Keep gathering whatever seems useful in here, I'll go check." He grabs the hammer out of the bag and heads outside. The street is clear, but that doesn't stop him from being on his guard as he moves to where the group had been before.

"Gotta love the apocalypse, can't trust anyone..." He spots a pistol on the ground and picks it up. "Hah. Lucky me." He aims it around. "Good enough. Can't wait to not find any ammo for it." He hears some talking nearby and walks over to see what's going on.

"I'm getting real sick of you dropping EVERYTHING when a single walker goes after you!" One says. "Give me a break! One bite and it's a death sentence!" Another yells back. Fizz rolls his eyes and heads back to Natalie. "Some idiots are arguing outside, we better get out of here before they bring a hoard down on us."

"Was there anything outside?" Fizz holds up the pistol. "It's got a clip in it, but nothing else, so it's not super helpful." Natalie shrugs. "Bullets are bullets. It's at least safer than trying to kill one with a damn trowel." Fizz chuckles and puts away the pistol. "Yeah, very true. Anyway, grab the bags and lets get back."

She does just that, running out of the store with Fizz hot on her tail. Once they get to the highway, they slow down. "Okay... We should be good now." Natalie looks around. "Now that I think about it, why are the highways of all places clear of walkers?" Fizz shrugs. "Maybe we're just lucky? Although... There's also almost no... Cars... Something's not quite right."

"Maybe a mass exodus?" Fizz nods. "Yeah, let's go with that." They speedwalk the rest of the way back to the hotel. "Alright, good to be back." Fizz says looking up at the hotel. Natalie nods. "Yeah, I could use a nap." They walk forward, only for the corpse of Ashley to fall in front of them. They both freeze and turn to look at each other.

"What the fuck happened here?!"


	6. Times Change

Fizz entered the village with caution, the encounters previously putting him on guard. He takes out his binoculars and looks into the village, seeing a big bonfire, with a corpse burning in the middle of it. Scowling, he takes a side path towards the back of the village, intent on sneaking past undetected.

"¡Un forastero!" He suddenly hears, one of the villagers pointing at him. "Shit, guess this is gonna get ugly..." He dives through a window of a nearby house, blocking the door with a dresser. Knowing it won't take long for them to break in, he heads upstairs. A ladder smashes through the window on the far end, and he grumbles.

"Time for some fun." He pulls out his trusty Chicago typewriter, aiming it at the window. A villager climbs up, only to get gunned down immediately. He then runs to the ladder and knocks it down. "¡Detrás de tí, imbécil!" Hits his ears, and he turns her around quickly, gunning down the two that had climbed through the other window.

"Want some more?" He says, smirking as he hears the ladder hit the ledge of the window once again. "I've got plenty of ammo!" Suddenly, the sound of a church bell rings out through the village. The villagers stop attacking, and go through a door near the end of the village. Fizz walks outside, looking around.

"Where's everyone going? Bingo?"

TWO MONTHS AND 4 DAYS IN

"Fizz, wake up." Fizz grunts and stirs awake, Natalie staring down at him. "We've gotta move." Fizz nods and rubs his eyes. "Woke me up during a great dream..." Natalie scoffs. "That's nice. But the hoard is almost here, and we've gotta get out of their way." Fizz stands up, warming himself by their fire. "Yeah, yeah. Are the others awake?" She nods. "Sent them up ahead."

Fizz pops his back and stretches a bit. "Lucky bastards, those three. Can't believe Ashley and Katlyn just... Let all the walkers out like that." Natalie shrugs. "Guess it all just got to them. Couldn't handle the weight of reality." Fizz shakes his head. "Honestly, it's lucky we weren't there when it happened. Our rooms were close to the stairs."

Natalie nods. "So was Alex's though, and he made it out." Fizz shrugs. "Probably heard the two going up and got out of there." The two grab their stuff and get moving, meeting up with the others.

"Never got a chance to say thanks for the save. we would've been dead if not for you two." Karl says as they start walking. "All we did was break a window, if you couldn't do that on your own you probably shouldn't have made it out of that hotel." Fizz nudges Karl, who shoves him. "Shut up! You would've frozen in that mess too!"

"Maybe, maybe not." Devyn rolls her eyes. "Regardless of what was actually done, you did still technically rescue us." Alex scoffs. "Yeah, but not the supplies. Anything not already on us is gone. We have weapons, but no food or drinks. We're fucked." Natalie glares at him. "Hey, Mr. Negative, how's about being glad you made it out of that hotel at all, huh?"

"Whatever. We have nothing, we're gonna die, the end." He says, bitterly. Fizz walks forward and shoves a hammer in his hands. "Why do you think we're going into town, idiot? To get supplies. Hell, maybe we can use one of the trains to get a move on."

"Actually, best not. Things are fucking loud, wherever we go there will be a huge hoard behind us most likely." Devyn says from the back. Fizz points to her and nods. "Didn't think of that, good catch." Natalie sighs. "Is the town at least close? I don't want to sleep in the woods again. I don't want to risk it raining tonight..."

"It's just another mile." Devyn says. Karl groans. "Another mile? My legs are already sore!" Alex grumbles. "Whine some more, why don't you..." Karl moves next to him. "Oh, what was that? The fatalist here wants to tell me to stop whining?" Alex shoves him, and Karl shoves him to the ground.

"Alright, quit it. You're gonna attract walkers." Natalie hisses. Alex gets up and flips off Karl. "You're both being babies." Fizz says, walking ahead. "We should be there in a half hour or so." The two grumble and continue walking.

After about five minutes of silence, Fizz hums. "You know what I miss? Pretzels." Natalie bursts out laughing while the others just state at him. "What the fuck does that have to do with anything?" Karl says, giving him a look of confusion. Fizz shrugs. "I don't know, I'm fuckin bored. Speak already!"

"About what? We're walking through the forest, getting eaten alive by mosquitoes." Alex scoffs, crossing his arms. "Better than being eaten alive by walkers." Devyn says. "Marginally." He grumbles back. "I hate you." Karl huffs. "This isn't the kind of discussion I was hoping for." Fizz sighs.

After a bunch of bickering, they finally reach the edge of town and find it infested with walkers. "Oh, just fucking great. Anyone got any ideas on how to deal with that mess?" Alex says, gesturing at the others. Fizz points at the train station. "We can post up in one of the trains for a while, scout the town, and get what's left." Natalie nods. "Sounds good." Devyn and Karl nod as well. "Best plan we've got."

Alex rolls his eyes. "Fine, let's go." They sneak carefully into the town and to the train station, heading to a train with several boxcars. It takes both Alex and Devyn to open the car, and they start climbing inside. Fizz is about to step in, when he hears a noise from another car. Natalie turns around. "Coming?" She whispers. "Hold on, I heard something..." He whispers back, moving to the other car.

Coming on the other car, he hears the noise again, under the car. Fizz slowly ducks down to look under the car. A man is hiding underneath the train, over the rails. "Uh... You're not a walker..." Fizz struggles to keep himself from laughing. "Nope, but you better come with me unless you want to become one." The man crawls out from under the train and stands up. "Some good irony there, huh?"

"Nathan, that was quite possibly the funniest thing I've ever seen." Fizz silently laughs, escorting Nathan to their new boxcar safehouse. Devyn and Karl look annoyed at the appearance of Nathan. "The hell are you doing here?" Devyn grumbles, leaning against the wall of the car.

"I found him under the train over there. Isn't that hilarious?" Fizz says, slapping Nathan on the back, who winces. Karl snorts. "That is pretty funny. But still." Fizz looks at the two. "Wait, are you two still hung up over that shit from before?" Devyn turns away. Fizz groans. "You can't seriously be this petty. First of all, it's the apocalypse, that shit doesn't matter anymore. Two, get over yourself."

"Shut up, Fizz." Devyn says. Alex waves her off. "Ignore her, what really matters is that it's another mouth to feed. Can we really afford that right now?" Fizz nods. "Yeah, absolutely. It's one less mouth than we had previously, so we can make do." Natalie nods as well. "Yeah, plus, he's skinny as hell, so he won't eat much. Not like Karl." Karl throws his arms up. "What the fuck!"

"Let's worry about this later, for now let's plan our next move." Alex says. Natalie nods and opens the door of the boxcar facing the town. "It's pretty packed with walkers, so we need to be careful not to get boxed in." Fizz sits on the edge of the car. "Too many people at once would be too dangerous, two people should go." Everyone immediately points at both Nathan and Fizz. "Wow, okay, fuck you guys too." Fizz grumbles and hops down. "Let's go Nathan."

Nathan hops down with him, taking a weapon from the pile inside. "Alright then... Time to earn my dues I guess." The two head into town, watching each other's backs. "So, what have you been doing this whole time?" Fizz whispers, hopping a fence. "Oh, you know, staying alive... Entire family died in like, the first day." Fizz gives him a "yikes" sort of face and they move into one of the stores. "You can tell me everything when we get back to the boxcar."

They look around the store for anything they can use. "Looks like a general store... Lucky break. Grab anything that isn't spoiled." Fizz says, grabbing food off of the shelves. Nathan does the same, until a walker comes around the corner and growls at him. Nathan drops everything he's carrying and grabs the weapon he took, a screwdriver, and stabs the walker clean in the head with it.

"You alright over there?" Fizz calls out. Nathan takes a breath and picks up the food he dropped. "Yeah, I'm good. Just a scare." Fizz comes over to him, looking at the walker he killed. "Yeah, looks like it. I've got all I can carry, let's go." They go out the way they came in, only to find a group of walkers blocking their path. "Oh shit."

The walkers turn to them and groan, shambling at them. "Back into the store!" They turn around, only to find a couple more blocking their entrance into the store as well. "Shit, shit, shit..." Fizz mutters under his breath. Nathan backs against him. "Do we drop the food and fight?" Fizz shakes his head. "We'll get surrounded... We just have to book it."

"What?!" Fizz charges at an open part of the walker's line, knocking aside the two on either side of him. Nathan follows his lead, barely escaping the grasp of a walker behind him. "That was too close." Nathan wheezes as he keeps running. "Yeah, you were almost a Nathan sandwich!" Fizz laughs. Nathan groans, and they arrive back at the boxcar.

The others let them in, and they spread out their haul. The people in the boxcar voice their approval of the food brought back. "What, no thank yous?" Fizz asks. "We nearly died on the way back!" He gets a few mumbled thank yous, with the only really sincere one coming from Natalie.

Fizz crosses his arms and huffs, but doesn't say anything else. After eating some of the food, everyone goes to their seperate corners of the boxcar to relax. Fizz sits with Natalie and Nathan. "So, you know this guy?" Natalie asks. Nathan lets out a laugh. "Know me? We've been friends our entire lives."

"Really?" Fizz nods. "Mom's knew each other when they were pregnant with us. So we've always been friends. With snags, of course." Nathan smiles and nods. "We lived a bit too far apart to really see each other often though." She hums and leans back. "Interesting. Wish I had such consistent friends."

Fizz scoffs. "Consistent? Those two over there basically outcasted me. If the apocalypse didn't happen when it did, they probably would've stopped talking to me entirely." Nathan rubs the back of his neck. "And let's just say I'm not exactly on their good side." Natalie shrugs. "I don't care about any of that. At least we're all still here, and alive."

"Oh, Nathan, what the hell were you doing under this train anyway?" Fizz asks. "Hiding. Bunch of walkers got the drop on me as I was coming down the highway and this was the only spot I could find where they wouldn't get at me." Fizz chuckles. "Guess it's lucky I found you when I did, or you would've been in an even more hilarious position of irony."

Natalie tilts her head. "What do you mean?" Fizz nudges Nathan. "Back when me and Nathan were fighting, I was in the middle of writing a story, so I made him a villain and had him die by falling under a train."

"Ooooh, so him being under the train... That's... Incredibly convenient." Fizz nods. "Oh, for sure. Funny though." Nathan yawns. "Alright, I'm gonna get some sleep. I've been on the road for almost a day now. Fizz stretches and yawns as well. "Not a bad idea."

The boxcar soon becomes silent as the occupants all fall asleep.


	7. Mistakes Were Made

TWO MONTHS AND 16 DAYS IN

"So, what's the plan from here?" Fizz pulls himself into the boxcar roof and lies down. "We'll probably be on the road again soon. This town's big, but we'll run out of food eventually." Karl nods. "Sounds good, I guess. Not looking forward to all the walking though..."

The groans of walkers nearby cause them to turn to the front of the train, where one is banging on the door to the engine car. "What do you think killed him?" Karl asks. "My guess? Tripped while running. I mean, just look at that ankle. It's all sorts of twisted." Fizz says, sitting up. Karl chuckles and looks around for another walker. "Ooh, how about that one?" He points to a walker standing near the train. "Toughie. Doesn't look like he was injured in any way, so maybe he was infected through blood contact or something?"

"Is that a thing?" Fizz shrugs. "Hell if I know. Seems like it would be though, right? I mean, why else would the bite make you turn?" Karl scratches his chin and stands up. "Makes sense I guess... There's another one." He points to a walker banging on a brick wall. Fizz stands up to get a better view of it. "Bite mark on the arm, I can see it from here."

"Wish there were more interesting walkers around... Remember the ones we saw in the city?" Fizz shivers. "I'm trying to forget the city." They hear someone knocking on the roof below them. "Looks like someone needs us." Karl grumbles and hops down, with Fizz following right after. The others inside open the door for them. "What's up?"

Alex pushes Devyn aside to move to the front. "We need more food." Fizz groans. "Are you fucking kidding me guys? The girls just went on a run three days ago." Alex gestures to the dwindling food supplies in the corner of the car. "Well that's what we're down to. So who's going today?" Nathan crosses his arms. "Why don't you go for once?" Alex turns to him with a death glare.

"Nathan's got a point, you haven't been on a run since the gas station." Devyn says, pushing him towards the door. Karl shrugs. "I'll go with him. Bored anyway." The two hop out of the boxcar and head out, with the others shutting the door. Nathan pulls Fizz aside for a moment after they move away from the door. "Hey, can you and Natalie go do something for a bit? I want to apologize to Devyn so we can make up." Fizz nods. "Sure. Just don't take forever or make to much noise." He scoots over to Natalie. "Hey. Wanna go on the roof?" Natalie shrugs. "Sure." They exit the car, leaving Devyn and Nathan alone.

They sit on the roof of the boxcar, watching as Karl and Alex struggle to get inside of one of the stores. "You didn't ask me up here just because, right? Nathan wanted to be alone with Devyn. What for?" Fizz shakes his head. "Devyn's still hung up on some stuff that happened months ago. Relationship stuff, you know."

Natalie pretends to gag. "Ugh. If there's one thing I don't miss, it's that garbage. The guys I used to hang out with always used to fight over me." Fizz leans back. "Really? Must've sucked playing middle man. Or woman, in this case." She scoffs. "It was the worst. They both automatically assumed I liked them, never taking the time to actually get to know me."

"What happened with all of that?" Natalie rolls her eyes. "They got tired of chasing me, and went after another girl. Rich, right?" Fizz nods. "Sounds about right. One advantage of being alone most of the time: never getting involved in that."

"Alone? What about the other three? They were your friends, right?" Fizz does a so-so motion with his hand and leans forward. "They're my friends, yeah, but they didn't exactly make an effort to include me in anything. Hell, the only reason I was over at Devyn's house when this started is because Nathan pushed to invite me."

"Ouch." Fizz shrugs. "It was alright I guess. Nathan had to cancel because his dad was sick, and we know what happened there. I felt like an outcast the whole time. I don't know... Maybe it's just me. It's so hard to tell." Natalie pats his shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't have many friends either."

"Why would that make me feel better?" She shrugs and lies back. "I dunno, relatable?" He scoffs. "A favorite word of many." She giggles. "God, tell me about it. Ecks dee! Relatable! This is so me! It was infuriating." He chuckles. "Don't tell that to the others, Dveyn was the queen of that. Well, that and making the most offensive jokes possible."

"Oh, they were in that sort of phase. Yeah, I went through that too, until one day I was like... Wait, why am I doing this?" She shrugs. "I dunno. It loses its charm pretty quickly." He nods. "Agreed." They hear shouting in the car below them. "That's my cue. I'll be right back." Fizz climbs down and gets into the car. "Alright, c'mon now. You're gonna get us killed with all this yelling."

"Shut up, Fizz!" Devyn yells, turning back to Nathan. "That was all your fault! Don't try to apologize to me like you have no responsibility for what happened!" Nathan looks incredibly confused. Fizz rolls his eyes and sits with them. "Guys, seriously, why the hell does it even matter now? It's literally completely irrelevant at this point."

"Hey, I tried to apologize-" Nathan starts, but is cut off by Devyn. "Oh, some apology that was!" Fizz looks completely bored at this exchange. "How about this: Why don't you two just pretend to get along? Because we need to work together here and you two not talking to each other is gonna get someone killed."

Devyn is seething, and Nathan looks annoyed. Fizz stands up. "Alright, fine, be that way. Get yourselves killed, I don't give a shit." He heads out and goes back on top of the boxcar. "I'm back." Natalie nods. "So you are. How'd it go?" Fizz groans and lies with her again. "Doesn't matter, it's not worth caring about."

"So... Not well?" Fizz shakes his head. "Nope. By the way, where are Alex and Karl? They've gone for a while now." Natalie shrugs and sits up. "I think they're stuck in the store at the moment." Fizz sits up as well. "Why aren't helping them then?" Natalie pops her lips. "Ah."

About two minutes later, the four are beating down walkers just down the street from the store that Alex and Karl are trapped in. "Man, this feels great!" Fizz says, kicking a walker's head across the pavement. Natalie slams a hammer into the skull of another. "Stay focused, we've got more coming!" Devyn uses her garden shears to stab a walker near her.

"Alright, I'm going for it!" Nathan shouts, running for the store. "Nathan, wait!" Fizz shouts, trying to chase after him, but getting cut off by a few walkers coming around the corner. "Fuck! Natalie, need help over here!" Natalie turns and runs over to Fizz, helping him deal with the walkers.

Devyn barely manages to meet up with the two as they continue to move down the road. Alex and Karl meanwhile, are keeping walkers out of the store, just barely. "I swear to fucking God if I die in here...!" Alex yells, not bothering to finish his sentence. Karl kills another walker as it comes through the window. "Just keep that door shut and we'll be fine! The others have to come soon!"

"Yeah, before or after we get eaten?!" The walkers break through the door, sending Alex skidding backwards. He screams his lungs out as the walkers come into the store. Karl barely manages to knock the first walker down, causing the rest behind it to trip, giving them some time to react.

Unfortunately, Alex has entered full mental breakdown mode, as Karl realizes as soon as he looks in his direction. "God damn it... Those fuckers better be on their way..." Alex crawls backwards, unable to comprehend the fact he was inches away from death, unable to catch his breath, and worst of all, unable to snap out of it. Karl starts picking off the walkers he can reach while still covering the window. "Alex! Get up!" He shouts, as a walker reaches for his shoulder...

The three outside had completely lost sight of Nathan, as well as getting surrounded by the walkers. "Shit! What the fuck do we do now?" Devyn shouts, backing against the store window they're in front of. Natalie looks around, before turning back to the window. "Watch your heads!" She shouts, before slamming her hammer into the window, shattering the entire left side. An alarm starts going off, causing the three to cover their ears.

"Well, fuck me then!" Natalie shouts over the alarm, which goes unheard by the others. She climbs through the broken window, the other two following close behind. The store is an antique store, seemingly empty. Fizz stands by the window, his weapon ready. "You two find a back door or something, I'll make sure we don't get overrun in here!"

The girls nod and run through the store, knocking over old clocks and toys as they barrel through the store. The first walker falls through the hole in the window, and Fizz stabs it's head with the screwdriver he has, struggling to pull it out as the next walker falls through.

Nathan knew he had made a mistake running off the way he did, and now he was paying the price for it. He had turned a corner and ran into a group of them, narrowly avoiding them before running out of the town entirely. Once he heard the alarm, he knew it would be only minutes before more walkers came. He stopped on a hill overlooking the town, panting. "Can't leave them... Can't go back in either... The train!" He turns to the station, their homely boxcar resting on the tracks, attached to an engine car. If he could figure out how to get it started...

"...We can get the hell out of dodge with no chance of being stopped!" He says, grinning. The one problem he immediately came across though, was the fact he had no idea how to operate a train. "Fuck it... At the very least I'll be safe until the hoard passes." He starts sprinting for the train, ready to get to work.

Karl backed up. This was it, the walkers were in, he and Alex were toast, with no sign of the others. They would die in this stupid store, over a few bags of chips and a few cans... A determined scream sounds off next to him, him barely registering Alex standing up and throwing the entire shelf next to them down in front of them, stopping the walkers for the moment. "Holy shit..." Karl turns to Alex, who looks just as surprised.

Fizz was having his own issues keeping the walkers out, the stack of bodies he had created had blocked the window, but they had started to break through the door. "Any luck back there?!" He calls, receiving no answer. "No way Natalie leaves me behind... Devyn, maybe. But not Natalie..." He reassures himself as he takes down another walker by throwing a clock at it. "Fizz! Come on!" He hears Natalie shout, which causes him to grin, grab his screwdriver out of his latest kill, and sprint to the back.

Natalie is holding the back door open as Devyn kills some walkers just outside. "I think we just have to go!" She shouts. Fizz shakes his head. "I can't see any way to get them out of there at this point, we have no choice!" He shouts back. Devyn finishes off the last walker around them. "Let's get back to the boxcar before we get eaten too!" The three take off running towards the boxcar.

Nathan continues flipping through an instruction manual on engine startup. He's completely confused, but slowly starts getting everything in working order. "Why did they have to make this so complicated?" He asks no one in particular, flipping another switch on the panel.

Karl and Alex finally managed to get out of the store. Some alarm that had been tripped a few buildings over had caught the attention of most of the walkers in the area, letting them kill the few straglers and dash out of the store. "Those assholes are going to get it when we get back!" Alex growls, his fists clenched aggressively. Karl nods. "They totally left us for dead! If it wasn't for your quick thinking and that alarm, we would've been dead!" The two sprint towards the boxcar, ready to chew the others out.

Nathan closed the manual as he finally figured everything out, flipping the final switch to get everything going. Which, in the process, started the process of acceleration. "Wait, what? No, no!" He looks at the throttle, seeing that it had been pushed up at some point, and ran over to pull it back. It was rusted in place.

The screech of the brakes nearly caused the three to wet themselves. They had just opened the boxcar and started to get themselves inside when the train slowly started moving forward. "What the fuck is happening?!" Devyn screams hysterically, with Fizz basically throwing Natalie into the boxcar before climbing in himself. "Nathan! He must've looped back around and started the engine!" Fizz yells, running to the door leading to the engine car. "Keep the door open in case the other two come back!" He shouts to the girls before going through the door.

Alex and Karl heard the train brakes screech as they run past several walkers. "They're gonna leave without us?!" Alex seethes, grinding his teeth together. The two look at each and break out into a full sprint, letting their adrenaline take them.

"Nathan!" Nathan swerves around, sighing as he sees Fizz. "Fizz, thank God... You've gotta help, the throttle is rusted, it won't budge!" Fizz walks over and sees the lever. "Shit... We're gonna have to break off the rust the best we can!" He pulls out his screwdriver and starts stabbing at the rust, Nathan doing the same with his hammer.

The train was picking up speed fast, and it was starting to look like Karl and Alex weren't gonna make it. Luckily for them, the boxcar door was open. "C'mon, we can make it!" Karl yells. Devyn, hearing him, leans out of the boxcar. "Karl! Alex! Hurry!"

"No shit, Devyn!" Karl screams, finally manages to catch up with the train and run alongside it. "We'll have to pull them inside, be ready." Natalie nods to Devyn. The two ran as fast the could, with Karl finally starting to get winded and slow down. "No, no! I'm so close! Have to push..." He jumps at the boxcar door, Devyn just barely managing to grab his hands and pull him in.

Natalie moves close as Alex comes up on the boxcar. "Grab me, Grab me!" He yells, holding his hands out. Natalie reaches out for him, their hands almost touching...

And that's when Alex tripped.


End file.
